Story and photos by ELAN PERUMAL elan@thestar.com.my
IT has been 16 years since 118 families were relocated to a longhouses in Kampung Bunga Raya, Subang, and there are still no sign of the permanent houses that they were promised. The residents who were uprooted from their homes in the same village in 1994 to make way for a housing project are still waiting to be moved to the six-storey low-cost flats in Section U5 in Shah Alam. However, the project which started in 2003, was left abandoned a year later. Kota Damansara assemblyman Dr Nasir Hashim said the project undertaken by Unique Creations Sdn Bhd was abandoned after only 15% was completed. He said the state, through the initiative of the state housing, building management and squatter committee chairman Iskandar Abdul Samad, was in the process of reviving the abandoned project. “A developer — ECL Management — has been awarded the contract to revive the project which is expected to be completed in 18 months once the land has been surrendered to the ECL. “There is a caveat on the land and they are in the process of revoking it and my office has also requested the state to waive the RM1.5mil land premium as incentive to the developer,’’ he said. But in the mean time, the villagers have had to put up with unbearable living condition at the longhouses. The wooden houses at the temporary village are rotting and appear more like shacks. Residents also claimed that the mosquito-infested village was prone to frequent outbreak of diseases, including dengue and chikugunya. Last year, the Selangor government had also declared the shabby longhouse as “beyond repair”. Over the past one year, Dr Nasir, the state government, his office and the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) had also done their part in improving the quality of life at the village. He said they had raised RM15,000 to settle the water bill arrears in order to ensure the village had water supply and to improve the drainage system. He said they were trying hard to revive the project so that the villagers would be offered a much better and quality lifestyle. “There have been cases of dengue and chikugunya at this village,’’ he said, adding that the permanent housing scheme in the form of low-cost houses were offered at RM35,000 following a RM7,000 discount as promised by the previous government. “The houses are beyond repair and the state has offered them temporary housing under the Project Perumahan Rakyat in Section 8 and Section 23 but they are not too keen to move,” he said. Village headman S. Perumal said the villagers were left in a lurch for many years and they were uncertain of their future now. He said they were willing to gamble by risking their lives and stay on at the deplorable longhouses until their permanent homes were ready “We do not want to be caught in the same situation again after moving into the temporary PPR homes. We just want to move into our own flats,” he said. S. Rasamani, 60, was hopeful that the abandoned project would be revived soon so that they could move out of the village. “We are deprived of a proper living condition here,” she said. V. Parameswary, 38, said her children often fell ill due to the poor hygiene in the village. She urged the state government to speed up the process of completing their permanent housing scheme. “The houses will come down anytime and we realise that we are living in danger,” she added.